M3D filament not extruding well (anymore)
I use OctoPrint on an Ubuntu system with a M3D printer.
Midway through a recent print, the filament just stopped extruding although the motor-functions of the printer were proceeding fine. Since then, every print I attempt has trouble extruding proper amounts of filament. It's always not enough. The output is stringy and not cohesive.
I'm thinking there may simply be a clog in the extruder and wondering the safest way to remove it.
The weird thing, though, is that when I use manual control and extrude at, say, 220C, the filament comes out fine.
You can see the raft definitely isn't printing right. Way too little output:
Suggested remedies for 3-D printers which are not extruding required amount of filament:
- First, check the temperature of the extruder. Try 220-225C to see if that improves the problem.
- The second step is to increase the flow of the filament (increase mm/sec) for extruder speed.
- A final step is to increase distance between extruder and base-plate. If the extruder is too close to the baseplate, there may not be enough space for the filament to begin the printing process.
Another possible source of lack of material extrusion is a clogged extruder. To solve this problem:
- Retract filament using jog control in software
- Heat extruder 20-30 degrees Celsius above normal extrusion temperature
- Disassemble Extruder, use small thin wire to remove blockage (guitar wire as suggested below)
Currently 215C. Was always that way before.
what type of filament are you using?
PLA (from M3D company), as always before.
If it prints correctly at 220C, why not leave it there? In addition, have you lowered the bed slightly?
Honestly that's probably the next best step in diagnosis. I'm going to re-calibrate the z=0 bed location and bed height, then try at ~225C
Turns out recalibrating and setting the extrusion temp. to 225C is doing the trick. Thanks.
But didn't work for long. Back to square one. Quite sure the extruder is clogged with plastic that doesn't want to melt out. I may try to burn it out at 250C or something. Maybe a bad idea?
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Content dated before 7/24/2021 11:53 AM
khaverim 6 years ago
Currently 215C. Was always that way before.